Kuro: A Land in Eternal Night

Chapter 20.2: A Boy's Dream

It wasn't that he was stupid. Yes, some of the slower boys in the village were unafraid too, but that was because they didn't realize the situations they were in. He was different. He was smart, smarter still than all the other boys in the village, perhaps even smarter than some of the menfolk. The other boys followed him sometimes to see what he was up to. He showed them things that they had never seen before, the curious objects he would find in his travels. They called him The Adventurer, for he was always off to places where the other boys were too afraid to go. His mind was filled with travels to far-off lands.

The feeling of the grass underneath him, and the cool wind blowing full in his face, refreshed him. More hours passed and he was well into noon as he neared the mountain's peak. He did not bother to think about how he was to get down. He would worry about that later. As far as he was concerned there was more than enough time to get down by nightfall. He heard the sweet chirping of birds. The trees, too, were different up here. Pine, maple, crabapple, firs and aspens dotted the landscape for as far as the eye could see. On this one mountain alone, the diversity of the trees was staggering. The boy couldn't quite think of yet another thing that could rival the beauty that he was witnessing this instant. The varied colors, swirled and mingled with each other like a beautiful painting. He heard insects as well, humming the summer song, the waters of the Tenyo-gawa below adding to the sing-song voice of a stream up on the mountain.

The boy revelled in the sounds of nature for a few moments. He thought he was imagining things, but in the distance he heard the sing-song sound of an entirely different thing. It was a voice, a beautiful melody that sounded like singing from afar. The sound was weak, as if the wind was carrying it over. He ran toward the sound, thinking that he was just imagining it, as if the trees themselves were playing tricks on him.

But the closer he got to the source of the sound, the more convinced he was. There was a mountain stream that he had been following. For a moment, he thought the sounds he heard were just the flowing waters and the chirping birds, but he could make out words now. The melody was beautiful and pure, singing of a warm summer's day.

The warm wind sighs

The trees whisper, the ground is fertile

The birds are happy

The water flows evermore, as does the sky everblue

The trees, they shout of their grand adventures

As the sun kisses her children on their lips

Let us travel then, my love

To far off lands, to far off lands

Until the green gives way to the gray

And the warmth of summer turns to winter's chill

But after that, shall spring begin anew

And the birds shall chirp forevermore

Only then shall we begin the journey new

To far off lands, to far off lands

The boy was running now. He was tired but driven, anxious to find the source of the beautiful song. Finally, he reached a clearing. For a moment he cursed his lack of caution, for he had lost track of where he was. He needed to find his bearings again. The clearing was lush with vegetation. Flowers filled the landscape with their bright colors. The smell of foliage was in the air, mixing with the fragrance of the flowers. It was then that he noticed her.

A little girl stood in the middle of the clearing. She stopped her song and was staring at him now with her intense black eyes. She had long, flowing dark hair that tumbled to her shoulders and was clad in a simple white dress. She walked up to him and smiled, her eyes shining in the summer light.

The boy felt the blood rush to his face as he blushed. He lost track of everything then. Girls were supposed to be icky. At least the girls in his village were. This one was very different. So very beautiful. Smiling, she walked up to him and brushed back the dark curls that covered his face.

"You have found me." she smiled sweetly again. In the sunlight he could see freckles on her fair face. Red lips, a long, slender nose. The boy thought she looked regal in the sunlight and the white dress made her look even more beautiful in his mind. What was this girl doing here?

She held her hand out. "I am Tessa. Who are you?"

The boy stood there, dumbfounded. He did not like talking to girls. A few of the girls from Kokoro would follow him around, and he always tried to lose them. He thought they talked too much. Little girls were never interesting. They never could run fast enough to keep up and they always needed to be saved when they would fall down from trees or scrape their knees and cry.

The boy did not realize why he did what he did next though. He bowed his head before this beautiful princess. "I am your knight come to save you," he said, surprising himself.

Tessa chuckled, a warm, rich laugh. Her smile was melting him. What was this feeling? He had never felt it before. He felt so conquered, as if this little girl held so much power over him. He felt angry. No one conquered the boy, for he was his own man. One day he would be a great warrior, perhaps even a king. He would not cower so, especially for something so weak as a little girl.

"Well, Sir Knight. You have found me, and you have been so rude, listening to my summer song without my knowing. How then shall I punish you?" Tessa thought for a moment, her eyes deep in thought, her simple white dress rustling in the summer wind. The boy thought for a moment that the trees, the flowers, the sun, all bowed down before the little girl.

"Ah, but save me you did, as those were your words – were they not, Sir Knight?"

The boy nodded, his face grave. He was putting up a front. He puffed up his chest and took out his katana, brandishing it around for effect, before stabbing it into the ground and bowing again. "My blade is at your service, my lady."

Tessa chuckled again, her singsong voice so melodic to his ears. "Then I shall give you your reward."

Tessa moved closer to him, and she was even more beautiful up close. The boy felt scared, unnerved as she moved her face close to his. She closed her eyes and all he could see now was her face. She moved in, dangerously close, and planted a kiss, right on his lips. His heart was pounding now. He did not know why his body was behaving the way it was. His face felt really hot, flushed. He was embarrassed, but happy. He realized he had closed his eyes the instant it happened.

He opened his eyes now, for nothing scared him, least of all this girl. He found himself staring at her face again, so vibrant, full of life. The vibrant eyes were like the sky above. He thought he would fall into them and drown.

"Sir Knight, I would learn the name of the man who has stolen the first kiss from me on this warm summer day." She smiled and danced in the clearing, her arms gracefully tracing shapes in the air. The boy found it hard to think. He thought himself stupid then, at a loss for words. Had this girl cast a spell upon him? Why was he behaving so oddly?

There was no time to think. He would just answer her. She had demanded a question from him and he would answer her as best he could.

"Mykall. My name is Mykall."